Fast Thinking

For an easy pick-me-up, think faster. Psychologists Emily Pronin and Elana Jacobs of Princeton University and Daniel M. Wegner of Harvard University had study participants brainstorm fund-raising ideas. Some people were told to list every idea immediately; the others recorded only notions they deemed worthy. Afterward, the idea spewers reported more elation, power, creativity, and self-esteem than the others did, no matter how good at or interested in the task they had been. The researchers wonder whether caffeine and exercise boost mood at least in part because they evidently accelerate mental processing. The findings suggest an upside to the fast delivery of information, Pronin says, "unless we simply tune it out."